Improvement in apparatus for the manufacture of cube-sugar



8. A. JASPER.

Making Cube Sugar. No'. 38,487. Patented May 12.1863.

N. PETERa Pmxo-Lmognphar. washington, D, c.

Unirse S'ra'rns aren/r einen.

GUSTAVUS A. JASPER, OF BOSTON, l# ASSOIIUSF-TTS.

Speciication forming part of Letters Patent No. fif?, dated Mn y l2, lSfiI'S.

To all whom, t may concern.:

Be it known that-1I, GUs'rn'vUs A.- Jasrnn, late of Boston, in Athe county of Suffolk, but now residing in Charlestown, in the county of Middlesex and'State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Machine for Blocking Rcii ned Sugar, the following bein g a full, clear, and exact description of such machine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making partof this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan of the machine which constitutes my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section, and Fig. 3 a transverse vertical section through the same; Fig. 4, a view of the eccentric, to be referred to more fully hereinafter.

Refined white sugar as at present manufactured for the market is often made into large loaves, which are subsequently dried in an oven, seven or eight days being required for this purpose. If the heatin the oven be raised to hasten the process, the sugar will be liable to bcdiscolored. The obj ections to this process are mainly upon the score of economy, for not only are extensive ovens necessary to accommodate the results of so many days7 labor, but a large capital is required to keep on hand so extensive astock of material, and the sugar, when dried, requires to be again crushed or broken into pieces of the proper size for use. My `present invention obviates these objections, as by means of it the sugar, after having been rened, and while it is yet in a moist state and ready to be'dried for the market, is converted into small cakes, and in drying it in this form a few hours becomes sufficient, while the old process of drying it in molds required eight days, (more or less,) so that by the use of my machine sugar may be prepared for the market the day on which it may be refined. Sugar thus prepared requires no further labor to fit it for use, it being in pieces of the required sizetherefor.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the accompanying drawings is represented the machine which constitutes my invention. This machine, of which A is the frame-work, is secured to a bedplate or foundation, B. The driving-power is to be applied to one of the set, C, of fast and loose pulleys. Upon the shaft of the said pulleys is a pinion, D, which engages with a gear-wheel, E, fixed upon a shaft, F. This shaft carries a pinion, G, which engages with gear-teeth a upon the periphery of a drum, H. This drum revolves upon stationary cylindrical journals I I, arranged as shown in Fig. 3, one of such journals being shown in Fig. 4. These journals are secured to the standards K, andare bored eccentrically for the passage of a shaft, L which runs in boxes b in the standards.

In the periphery of the drum II there aie twelve sets of molds, fi, in which work acorreresponding number of plungers, f, that are connected together in sets, as shown in Fig. 3. These plungers are connected by means of the radial connecting-arms N with hubs O, fixed upon the shaft L. It has before been observed that the shaft L is eccentric with respect to the journals I of the drum, the eccentricity being so arranged that when the plungers at the bottom of the drum are at the mouths of their respective molds, Figs. 2 and 3, those at the top of the drum shall be at the bottoms of their respect-ive molds, the intermediate plungers while the drum may be in rotation being always in motion withrespect to and within the molds. Upon one side of the drum is a strong plate, S, curved upon one face to correspond with the shape ofthe drum, as seen in Fig. 2. It is secured tothe framework by a screw, P, or other suitable device or devices, and has screws m behind it for setting it up against or toward the cylinder, and to assist in holding it in position. This plate S entirely closes the mouth of each of the molds during about one-quarter of its circle of revolution. The moist refined sugar, being put into the hopper Q, (seen only in Fig. 2,) is agitated by stirrers R It, and will fall or pass into the open molds fi, the stirrers being revolved by any suitable connections with some revolving part of the machine. The molds, after having been filled with sugar, will be caused to pass immediately toward, against, and across the plate S, the plungers f in the meantime being caused to rise in the molds fi and force the sugar in them against the plate, so as to compress it into small blocks or dice. After the molds may have passed the plate S, the plungers, continuing to descend, will force thesugar from the molds, it being received, if" desirable, upon a traveling apron or upon.

a sans? trays or boards, and conveyed on or by such immediately to the oven. The pieces being of small size, comparatively little time will be required to dry them, a loW degree of heat and a few hour answering the purpose.

I lay no claim to molding sugar into blocks, whether such be of a cubical or other form. Nor do I claim the invention of the machine as patented by Gustavus Finken, the patent of the said Finken being reissued on February 4, 1862. 'In the machine of the said Finken the plungers are arranged in a circular plate, and each is withdrawn or retracted in the mold vby the action of a spring. No reliance can be placed on the continued action of the spring, as the adhesive matter in the mold may so stick the plunger therein as to overcome the retractive power of the spring. In

my improved machine or construction and aring the molds it', &c., plungers f f, &c., and

curved plate S, arranged and constructed substantially in manner and so as to operate as speeilied.

GUSTAVUS A. JAS PER.

Vitnesses:

It. II. EDDY,

F. l?. HALE, Jr. 

